Assistance with the Cost of Care

At St John’s Veterinary Hospital, we understand that veterinary bills can become quite expensive. When you’re beloved pet is sick it is an unwanted added stress to be worried about how much the tests and treatments are going to cost and how you’re going to pay for it. One of the most common questions we get is – do you do payment plans? Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we do not. However there are options available to help with the costs of veterinary care.

While your pet is healthy

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – we all hope our pets will not be involved in an accident, or get seriously ill, but just in case having pet insurance can have you prepared for these situations. Having pet insurance can make the difference between being able to say “do what needs to be done” instead of “I can’t afford to do all of it” when the unexpected happens.

There are several different companies to select from, and different kinds of packages you can get with a variety of price points. Do some research to figure out what would work best for your family. Many of our team members invest in pet insurance for their own pets, and they would be happy to discuss the decision with you.

Some companies to consider: Trupanion, Pets Plus Us, Petsecure, PC Pet Insurance , Petplan

When your pet is sick

Sometimes despite our best intentions, our pets get ill before we can prepare for the possibility. Often when an accident happens we are left scrambling to sort out how to deal with the situation. Once your pet is sick, it is too late to get pet insurance to cover it.

This is where Petcard comes in – Petcard provides a 3rd party financing option for pet owners faced with veterinary expenses they are not prepared to deal with on the spot. Their website is very informative, and the application process is straight forward.

Again, we do understand that the costs of veterinary care can get quite expensive – we want to work with you to make sure that your pet gets the care it needs without exceeding your financial abilities. If you have any concerns about costs, please ask one of our team members about your options.

Behind the scenes: Dog Dental

Dogs and cats come in for dentistry for a variety of reasons – from just needing a cleaning, to having a broken tooth that requires removal, to having significant periodontal disease requiring a great deal of cleaning and removal of rotten teeth.

Hailey was in for “just a cleaning” – she had some accumulation of plaque and tartar, and her owners wanted to clean it up before it led to anything more serious.

Like any patient undergoing anesthesia, Hailey was checked over by a technician and had blood drawn for presurgical screening. Hailey is 6 years old, and while her exam and bloodwork were completely normal, we take an added precaution with our older patients and connect them to IV fluids to help support their blood pressure while under anesthesia.

Hailey isn't sure she WANTS an IV catheter....

But it is for her own good!

No matter how simple or straightforward the cleaning, full general anesthesia is always recommended to ensure we can do a thorough, and proper job with minimal stress to your pet. Hailey was induced to general anesthesia, and an endotracheal tube placed to protect her airway and deliver the anesthetic gas. 

Attaching the tube from the anesthetic machine to Hailey's endotracheal tube.

All set up on the dental table, where she is monitored by machines and by a nurse!

When you go to the dentist, a hygienist cleans your teeth and the dentist does the exam and makes decisions on any procedures that need to be done. Similarly, the veterinarian examines the mouth and decides if extractions are necessary, but a technician does all the cleaning and polishing.

Hailey didn’t require any extractions, her owners were being proactive and getting her teeth cleaned before the tartar and plaque has a chance to cause a need for extractions. The technician scraped off all the tartar and plaque, using a sonic scaler – which uses high pressure water to get those stubborn stains off the tooth enamel. Once this is done, just like at your dentist, the teeth must be polished. If we scrape the stains off the teeth and don’t polish, the surface of the teeth are left with groves that will allow plaque and tartar to accumulate more quickly. So we polish all surfaces of the teeth to keep them smooth and clean as long as possible!

 

Cleaning with the sonic scaler.

Polishing time!

Once this is all done, the patient is taken off anesthesia, and moved to ICU for recovery. We don’t remove the endotracheal tube until we are confident they are waking up, and we keep a close eye on them until they are able to sit up on their own.  For Hailey it was a pretty uneventful procedure, but for a dog with severe periodontal disease they may benefit from additional pain medication while recovering, and they may have some bleeding post procedure and need their face cleaned up before they go home.

Hailey's before and after shots!

Every dog that has a dental procedure done leaves with a cleaner mouth, great smelling breath, and a mouth currently free of plaque and tartar! However as soon as they leave the building later that day, bacteria has already begun to repopulate in the mouth. To prolong the benefits of a dental procedure, owners can start brushing teeth, or giving dental treats or diet, or using food or water additives to reduce the build up of plaque. Brushing daily is the number one way to keep your pet from needing their teeth cleaned under anesthesia, but anything you can do to slow down the build up of plaque will lengthen the amount of time you can wait before another cleaning is necessary.